Neutral mode for an automatic transmission car

[guest768]

Hello i live in Mauritius. i have a 1.4 automatic jazz year 2004. i want to know if it is a good practice to switch to neutral mode while driving . Does this affect the gearbox ?

[olduser1]

I would think most drivers would avoid this practise as they would have little control over the vehicle whilst in N, better to be able to be prepared by being in D when faced with hazards on the road.
The main use for N is when stationary in a queue, something most drivers in the Uk do every day.
Most car makers warn owners about towing Auto cars.

[guest238]

Best avoided.

[culzean]

Its bad practice to engage neutral while moving, auto gearboxes will normally select the highest gear available anyway when overrunning down a hill and will supply very little engine braking (thats why the brake pads on auto cars wear out a lot quicker than on manual cars). It really fools the gearbox when you try to re-select 'drive' when the car is already moving because it really has no idea which gear it should be in and it may have selected a low ratio, which means that when you engage drive it will ty to overspeed the engine till it sorts itself out.

[guest229]

My recollection of Mauritius is that it is quite hilly and I presume you are selecting nuetral to coast downhill as a fuel saving exercise.In addition to the valid replies above if you are in "D" and coasting downhill the fuel control unit takes care of that by switching off the fuel supply to the engine thereby saving fuel and benefiting brake wear by maximising engine braking. In short Mr Honda had already thought that one out ,leave the drive in "D" except when in a traffic queue and make sure you reselect "D" when attempting to move of or it gets very noisy.